measure engine oil tips

[leynye yamin]

my kenari is facing (i think) engine oil decrease, it is full when cold morning before start the car, and after engine running optimum temp, i shut the car off immediately and remeasure the oil level, the oil level goes down to half, is this normal?(ps. all measurement done at leveled floor) i heard some mechs said that is normal, and kenari engine oil must be measured right after car engine turned off is the most accurate, if low oil level reading resulted from that means engine oil is low and need refilling. I tried refilling engine oil at hot temp, resulted with over the full mark level at morning. while some said that engine oil level is best checked at morning before any startup. Which is true? i kind a worry bout these things, the car current milage is 300,000 km and counting.(with occasionally touge race) i don wan during race i suffer low engine oil starvation. and i want to try avoid overhaul the engine. Currently i switch engine oil from petronas 5w30 semi to mineral 15w40 nasa oil, as the petronas ones evaporates faster than i imagined, 1500 km has lost to half tank. now with nasa oil the engine oil level still not less yet. so what is your oppinion? how to measure engine oil level? anything that i should be worried? Thx a lot!

 

[Timeattacker]

Bro,
I think is time for ur baby to go for a full internal body check up..is ur car running Turbo?

 

[leynye yamin]

no, just na engine. maybe no more race for this car?

 

[Timeattacker]

ok,
checking the adequate engine oil measurement,can be wheneva u stop ur car,but u mentioned in the morning..Scientifically,after ur car been cooling down for the whole chilling nite,the engine oil shld be all under the engine oil tanker,so there is "No way" u can get a adequate measurements without giving ur car some warm up..
try to run the car for 1mins and then shut it off,then only u start to do the measurements,when checking the measurements dun take the first sight of its,i means,wipe off the oil dipper then again u measure again----->(second time attempt)..if the oil level shown below the bar,its probably ur egine head gasket burning or may inner parts..
bytw,those the engine oil warning light flick on/off when ur on the road??

10q

 

[Izso]

my kenari is facing (i think) engine oil decrease, it is full when cold morning before start the car, and after engine running optimum temp, i shut the car off immediately and remeasure the oil level, the oil level goes down to half, is this normal?(ps. all measurement done at leveled floor) i heard some mechs said that is normal, and kenari engine oil must be measured right after car engine turned off is the most accurate, if low oil level reading resulted from that means engine oil is low and need refilling. I tried refilling engine oil at hot temp, resulted with over the full mark level at morning. while some said that engine oil level is best checked at morning before any startup. Which is true? i kind a worry bout these things, the car current milage is 300,000 km and counting.(with occasionally touge race) i don wan during race i suffer low engine oil starvation. and i want to try avoid overhaul the engine. Currently i switch engine oil from petronas 5w30 semi to mineral 15w40 nasa oil, as the petronas ones evaporates faster than i imagined, 1500 km has lost to half tank. now with nasa oil the engine oil level still not less yet. so what is your oppinion? how to measure engine oil level? anything that i should be worried? Thx a lot!

You want to know the level of your oil wait for a cold engine then measure. Why? When the engine is cold, the oil is collected in the oil sump area and that's where your dipstick is measuring. If it's hot then the oil is everywhere because it's being circulated by the oil pump. Your reading won't be so accurate.

What does your car manual say to use? 5W30? 5W40? Personally I think you should consider 5W40 or 10W40 only. If engine is evaporating either your engine is leaking oil somewhere or the oil you used isn't suitable for your engine.

Personally I wouldn't worry about evaporation. Just change to another weight recommended by your car manufacturer and you'll be fine.

 

[jeffayn]

If you measure the oil level after you run the engine , that is wrong !

Always measure the dip in the morning, before you even start the engine. There is always two level your engine oil should not be
below LOW or higher than HIGH, other than that, you are safe.

 

[Jac83]

If your engine oil is as what u stated and ONLY measure when the engine is cold then engine is still running fine. Don't be misleaded by whoever claim that engine oil should be measured when the engine is WARM as it is nonsense. Common sense dictate that the moment u start the engine, the engine oil will be pumped all over your engine to lubricate the parts thus there is no way u can get an accurate reading while the engine is warm. Check during the morning before u start the car or anytime after u park the car for several hours with the engine OFF.

 

[Tom]

It is a well known fact that people should check their oil levels when the engine is cold.
For a temporary small engine oil leaks solution, go to Ace Hardware, look for Engine Oil Stop Leak. It seals small gasket leaks.
There are quite a number of brands, pick the one you like. I've used it before and it does work but not against major leaks though

 

[JINEIL2EN]

from semi to mineral... u just push ur engine to the limit... wakakaka

 

[leynye yamin]

my car originally from factory is using 10w30 petronas mineral engine oil, after that i upgrade to 5w30 semi petronas oil, the problem is after i change to semi oil and run for not up to 3k km, i feel my engine becomes very heavy and hot, not accelerating strongly,(the engine oil light is not on at all till now, touch wood!!). That makes me curious and go to check the engine oil level, to my suprise the engine level at morning decrease to half(morning cold engine)!! I was teriffied and went out with another car to buy new bottle 5w30 petronas engine to replace my half leveled engine oil.
Funny thing is, after replaced with new 5w30 oil, haha i happy, thought the problem solved and went touge couse shortly after oil replacement. HOWEVER! things not as i thought, the car became sluggish AGAIN and i check the milage only to see that the car not even travelled more than 1500 km. the level drop to half again!(in morning) I thought that it is like, ok, the petronas oil no good, so i went to get another brand is penzoil 5w30 semi. This one better, 2500 km then start to less to half in oil level. I replaced my engine oil with this penzoil 3 times, all around 2500 km interval. Finally i give up and get shell (yellow bottle) mineral 10w30 engine oil， even faster, not up to 1000km less to half d. finally i get the nasa 15w40 mineral and currently oil level not less yet touchwood!! what is your idea?? normal? thx!!

 

[Izso]

Are you running a leak somewhere? Try 10W40 or 5W40 la. Slightly thicker oil to cater for the higher temperature (assuming there is any).

Check your engine bay for leakages.

 

[leynye yamin]

for leakage problem i encounter after changing from mineral to semi is:- engine oil filter housing (next to exhaust manifold) leaked due to hardened oil ring(there are 2 o-rings, 1 is small and 1 is big ring); next is o-ring from nest to the valve cover there is a number 10 bolt that screws a plastic thingy that houses a o-ring as well, (if you unscrew that no.10 bolt you will pull out a plastic silinder with a o-ring attached to it.); camshaft and crankshaft oil seal leakage and valve cover spark plug oil seal leakage. so far i replaced the 2 pcs oil filter o-ring, replaced the plastic thingy o-ring, replaced timing belt and the 2 seals with tensioner bearing, and replaced the valve cover to new ones. At the moment no leaking can be seen. BTW, i proud to say that all replacement mentioned are DIY (i previously worked at perodua service centre, now work at normal office). slow and steady, haha! Anyway, i was told that there is theory that my engine might be running too hot and make the thinner viscosity oil cannot take the heat and evaporates thus my present situation. Is it true? bcos my friend/mech checked by turning the crankshaft pulley and said that compression is optimum and doesn't sound like leakage. But he insisted that i let him dismantle the engine and let him check and one time general overhaul together. I was quite reluctant to do so as i am very confident with my engine (the car is bought brand new, along with constant maintenance performed. ps: due to my driving style, my atf replacement is every 5k km with petronas atf d3 just to be on the safe side), i am confident that my engine is not giving up on me, but with its engine oil level keeps drying up like this(but at the moment no lar), i need to rethink whether this car should be set just for normal use.

---------- Post added at 03:22 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 03:13 PM ----------

Btw, is there any way to check valve or compression leakage externally? haha! just wondering.

 

[Izso]

DIY home valve compression leakage test? Nah. You need the compression tester.

I still think it's just the type of oil you're using. Change to 10W40 and then monitor again.

 

[l2s_turbo]

ok,
checking the adequate engine oil measurement,can be wheneva u stop ur car,but u mentioned in the morning..Scientifically,after ur car been cooling down for the whole chilling nite,the engine oil shld be all under the engine oil tanker,so there is "No way" u can get a adequate measurements without giving ur car some warm up..
try to run the car for 1mins and then shut it off,then only u start to do the measurements,when checking the measurements dun take the first sight of its,i means,wipe off the oil dipper then again u measure again----->(second time attempt)..if the oil level shown below the bar,its probably ur egine head gasket burning or may inner parts..
bytw,those the engine oil warning light flick on/off when ur on the road??

10q

That's a wrong measuring tips bro.. you should always measure during early morning BEFORE start up or after the engine has cool down to get the correct measurement..

 

[Izso]

That's a wrong measuring tips bro.. you should always measure during early morning BEFORE start up or after the engine has cool down to get the correct measurement..

Not really. He does have a point, cuz there will always be some oil being stuck somewhere in the engine hidden in some crook or cranny and that won't do anything to help. A slightly warmed up engine will give a better guess at how much oil is really being circulated and if it's too low then you're best to top off a little.

But then again - really depends on how much oil you fill in, in the first place! Some people fill it just above the min line, some between the min and max, people like me like to touch the max. So for me cold engine measuring is more accurate since I have more oil. For people running min or middle, you probably would be better off with a slightly warm engine before measuring.

 

[leynye yamin]

i see, that eases my worries a little. i will change to 10w40 as suggested and try again. will keep posted. Thx everyone! at the moment i will drive normal pace to check again.

 

[leynye yamin]

ok, updates. I could not stand the problem of oil decreasing and i got up at night and diy have the timing belt cover opened and discovered that the newly changed belt is wet, and the entire assembly is wet as well, down to the crankshaft sprocket, and it is not leaking from both the camshaft or the crankshaft seal. it is leaking from the hole next to the camshaft sprocket.(refer picture(taken from mudah as sample) with red circle, turns out there is a cap at that hole, now has loosen out and with engine running, engine oil pressure popped the cap out. ). can i ask what is that? where i can get replacement parts? or i need to change the whole head just because of that cap?please help!

 

[Izso]

ok, updates. I could not stand the problem of oil decreasing and i got up at night and diy have the timing belt cover opened and discovered that the newly changed belt is wet, and the entire assembly is wet as well, down to the crankshaft sprocket, and it is not leaking from both the camshaft or the crankshaft seal. it is leaking from the hole next to the camshaft sprocket.(refer picture(taken from mudah as sample) with red circle, turns out there is a cap at that hole, now has loosen out and with engine running, engine oil pressure popped the cap out. ). can i ask what is that? where i can get replacement parts? or i need to change the whole head just because of that cap?please help!

You sure it's the cap? Clean out all the oil and run the engine and just monitor. If it's really there then suggest you get someone to weld it shut. Otherwise you should be able to replace the cap alone. Dunno what you call it though.

 

[leynye yamin]

i have checked with perodua the part number for this plug, 90043-39096-000, now waiting for them to call me about the price. i even asked for price of the head itself which is around rm 1500.00. damn!

 

[leynye yamin]

after checked with repair manual, that plug cannot be welded shut, it has oil passage inside, that's why it has become so difficult for me to repair. refer the attachment.